Sometime in the mid 20-teens, I began to have visions of a cave. Into the cave trickled a stream of blood, thick and bright. Sometimes flowing into the cave, sometimes out. Menstrual blood.
This was the entrance to Gaia’s Womb, I’d learn.
Then I started following a White-Tailed Doe to the mouth of Gaia’s Womb. Once, before going inside, the Doe turned to me. She was half dead and half alive. She continued inside.
My Fox Guide would sometimes meet me at the opening and he would enter. I wanted to follow, but it was very dark and I had no light.
Sometimes Honeybees would pick me up and take me to another entrance of Gaia’s Womb through their honey-rich beehive built into an crack. From here, I could see the bees not just carrying pollen, but also souls back and forth from the hive.
One darkmoon in September, Fox and I came to the opening. This time I needed no additional light, because inside were bioluminescence light from mushrooms, mosses, flowers, and other plants. Fox and I stepped inside followed this beautiful natural glowing path.
On the next vision, I met a woman. Half living, half decaying. I wasn’t afraid or disgusted. Persephone. She began teaching me how to produce my own light—my own torch, and for months, I’d go walk with Her, down through the deep, tight and wide tunnels. Shadow Work.
Eventually we reached a dimly lit chamber where stood Hekate by a locked door. In one hand, Hekate held a torch and in the other a heavy black skeleton key. I stood with Mama Hekate and Persephone, and after a ritual—a journey within the trance—I was given a beautiful ornately carved unlit torch.
The next journey, I started again at the entrance with Fox. From my chest, I pulled my already lit torch and we met Persephone—as we travel, She withered, rapidly aged, and rotted away. Death in every step. We walked all the way down to the heavy stone door. Hekate opened it and Persephone entered, followed by me and Hekate. We walked and talked a ways, until we saw a great skeletal Stag in the distance. Persephone shifted into a completely dead doe, and lovingly joined him. Hekate and I left and returned to the surface. In both Her voice and Persephone, I was called Torch Bearer - A Guide in Others Darkness. A Beacon of Light.
And thus began my official job as a psychopomp. There are also other duties that I perform as a Torch Bearer of Persephone and Hekate.
But the above where my first major experiences with Persephone. The following spring, I’d start having visions of Kore—the Epopteia—the fiery return of Persephone. From the Door, Came the Death Woman. It was time for Her to stop caring for the dead and return to the surface. This time as we walked, She healed, came back to life. And not as a mature woman, but as a Child Goddess. Her hair full of colorful bright flowers, leaves, and vines. Life in every step.
In other March’s, instead of a Flower Child Goddess, Persephone takes the form of a newborn fawn.
During spring’s mood swings, sometimes I joke that it’s She’s returning to Hades for one last fling, or perhaps an argument with Her Mother, Demeter.
!!!! Content Warning Below: Rape, Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse !!!!
There is a photo at the end of this section for safe content.
Unlike many people, when I look at Persephone and Hades I don’t see a victim and her rapist. I see love, not stockholm syndrome. I do know that for many, be them ancient or today, that people fear death. Death is often a villain in stories. Of course Hades could be seen as kidnapping and tricking the Flower Maiden—Death Stealing Life.
I don’t. Then again I don’t fear Death. I don’t see Them as an enemy. As a psychic who’s had a long history with spirits and the dead, and has many Dark and Death entities in my life, I see Death as an old friend. Physically I’m no immortal, so why fear something that’s unescapable? Why live life like that?
So, no I don’t see Hades as a villain, nor Their marriage as forced. I don’t like the sad story of despite Her being trapped She rises above. Above what? She’s still trapped! Makes no sense to me. I know many people are trapped in abusive or loveless relationships, and that seeing a Goddess still be strong is inspiring…but in the end, She’s still not free. She’s still a victim. She doesn’t escape, just bound by some agreement between her rapist and mother. I’m definitely not a fan of that version of a bound, trapped Goddess. I know not everyone can escape their abuser, but I don’t see how this version is helpful, either. But then I’ve never been in that situation—I hope I never am. I had an abusive childhood where I was definitely trapped when I was younger, but eventually as an adult I left my monstrous family. Cutting ties, careful who I trusted with my phone number and address, and hoping that my dad never decided to keep his murderous promise.
Still, different circumstances. Different lives.
Just as Persephone is a Queen of the Underworld and a Caregiver of our dead, She’s also a Goddess of Life—something just as powerful as death. How can She ever be trapped and bound?
Personally, I’m tired of mythology taking away the power of Goddesses, forcing them into abusive, toxic marriages, and making Them less than. It’s very misogynistic. A reflection of the Patriarch.
The ancient writers weren’t the end-all, be-all of the stories. At one point, the stories were oral or depicted in art before they were ever written down. And even then, we only have what survived. Some of the ancient Pagans were just as sexist and brutal as modern Christians—where do you think the early Christianity learned it from? Why do you think there’s so many war deities?? Even back then, in some locations and eras, women were objects to be owned. Many different people were enslaved and raped. It didn’t start with white Christianity. It didn’t even start with Europeans! Humans can be a brutal species to one another.
There’s many different versions of the Gods for a reason. The stories change, reflecting the culture of that time. Not to mention, how a myth changes depending on religious bias and lenses and political bias and lenses.
So which one’s more correct? The one you agree with, the older one, the one written by a author, or translated by a certain scholar?
Why not modern retellings? Modern mythology?
My Gods aren’t trapped in the past. They’re alive today.
My Gods also aren’t the mythology—The Thor I know isn’t the meat-headed murder-Jotuns-for-fun Thor in the stories. Mythology is written by humans for their purposes. Sometimes the Gods inspire us, give us stories, take us on journeys, thus creating more mythology. But these are stories for us. For our growth and healing. It’s great if they resonate for others. But they’re not meant for all. Just like how I don’t like the more popular old version or even some of the newer stories of a Trapped, Bound Persephone and Evil, Abusive Hades. Those aren’t the versions of those Gods that I know.
Shoot, some of what survived weren’t even written by believers in the Gods. They were written for entertainment and for control. Sometimes just written for lessons—lesson about the natural world—like Poseidon raping Demeter. That could simply be poetic interpretation of the sea flooding the land.
The myths aren’t meant to be taken literally.
My Gods certainly aren’t the Gods in those stories. Although I do still love reading mythology—ancient and modern. And I still write my own stories from my many trances and journeys.
So while my Persephone and Hades are in love, doesn’t mean that yours have to be. I just don’t see stockholm syndrome or a trapped Goddess when I see Persephone and Hades together.
I rather like poet Nikita Gill’s poems about Persephone and Hades. About Her being different and this difference was ignored by her mother. Persephone not wanting to be another weak, forgotten nymph. Persephone falling in love with Him without trauma, force, or contract. And Hades seeing that special spark in her, and helping her learn and develop it. Becoming a Queen of the Dead and a Goddess of Life.
Perhaps I do like Gill’s poems and others modern takes, because this reflects my own life? An emotionally abusive and detached mother who, even though she was aware of the psychic abilities in our family she chose to belittle and ignore me. Or when I found myself having relations with girls instead of just boys, she said I wasn’t gay, that I just had bisexual tendencies. Or when I was diagnosed with many neurodivergences in high school, she chose to believe me dumb and lazy, instead of helping me love myself, adapt, and flourish. How eventually, with the help of Chosen and Spirit Family, I learned self acceptance and self love, and sought help to learn how to thrive in this world for a wyrd-o, pansexual, and neurodivergent person.
Perhaps there’s different versions of the myth because we’re all different, and we need those different stories to heal and grow and form different perspectives? No myth is wrong. Just like how some trapped or perhaps even freed from abusive relationships benefit from a Persephone who was trapped and learned how to heal Herself and find her strength. There are others who write this scenario far better than I do, because I’m starting to think of my neurodivergencies now.
Didn’t ask for them. Sometimes, especially when I was younger, I wish that I didn’t have them. How much bullying from others and myself that I experienced because of them. Physical, mental, and emotional abuse that I endured. And yet, how I just accepted my neurodivergencies. Learned about them and myself, and how to navigate in this world that wasn’t built for people like me.
Same with my cPTSD. Traumas put on me like a violent marriage. Some traumas that I’ve been able to heal from, others that I may never heal from. Yet I thrive. Much like Persephone.
See? A different perspective, a different interpretation. Not wrong, just different. Whereas I can’t put myself in a situation of an abusive trapped marriage, I can see that myth in a different way.
!!!! End of Content Warning !!!!
Since I became a Torch Bearer, I celebrate Kore’s Ascent/Epopteia on the Spring Equinox and Persephone’s Descent on the Fall Equinox.
Some Kore/Persephone Correspondences (Historical and UPG):
Forms I see Her Take:
Fawn
White-Tailed Doe
Decaying Doe
Half Living Doe / Half Dead Doe - sometimes anthropomorphized, sometimes not.
Skeletal Doe with a Eerily glowing Skeletal Stag (Hades)
A Young Girl with Flowers in her hair and life in every step.
A Mature or Crone with decay in every step.
A Half Living Woman / Half Rotten Doe Skull
The Empress tarot card from the Biddy Tarot.
Pomegranate, Honey, Seeds, Corn, Grains, Milk, Red Wine, Water, Salt, Dark Chocolate, Gourds, Squash, Pumpkin Seeds, Olive Oil.
Deep Red Roses, White Roses, Springtime Plants, Calla Lilies, Peace Lilies, Asphodel, Rosemary
Deer (particularly Fawn and Doe)
Rooster
Spirits
A Divination Tool of mine that She’s claimed: Everyday Tarot by Biddy Tarot
This is the card that Persephone appeared as when She claimed this tool and also takes the form of sometimes. I see all stages of life in this card. Bones
Blood
Black, Blood Red, Deep Purple, White, Gray, Pinks.
The Melissae / Bee Priestesses, Psychopomps, Dancers
Daughter of Demeter and Zeus
Wife of Hades; Mother of Melinoë and Zagreus
Flower Maiden, Underworld Queen, Psychopomp, Caregiver of the Dead
She spends 6 months with her mother and 6 months with her beloved
Also associated with Hekate, Hermes, and the Minoan Ariadne
Eleusinian Mysteries
Ancestral Veneration
Rebirth, Life, Death - Cycles
Sacred Days: Dark Moons, New Moons, Full Moons, Spring Equinox (Kore/Persephone’s Ascent, Epopteia), Fall Equinox (Persephone’s Descent), Halloween/Samhain (Oct 31), Midfall (Nov 1st), Thesmophoria
Books:
Ashley, Elizabeth. Meeting the Melissae: The Ancient Greek Bee Priestesses of Demeter.
Benu, Melitta (Editor). Queen of the Sacred Way: A Devotional Anthology in Honor of Persephone.
Gill, Nikita. Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters.
Holub, Joan. Williams, Suzanne. Goddess Girls: Persephone the Phony. Middle School.
Holub, Joan. Williams, Suzanne. Goddess Girls: Persephone the Daring. Middle School.
Holub, Joan. Williams, Suzanne. Goddess Girls: Persephone the Grateful. Middle School.
Remer, Molly. Walking with Persephone.
Smythe, Rachel. Lore Olympus series. Graphic Novels.
Stein, Charles. Persephone Unveiled: Seeing the Goddess and Freeing Your Soul.
A week or so ago, I moved an elk figurine and an antler from the altar to my desk, and I’m pretty sure both have been helping with grounding. With all the national crap, and the 14th was my mom’s 2 year deathday anni, life hasn’t felt nearly as overwhelming as October’s can sometimes get for me. Elk/Antlers = Protection. I’ve seen a grey bubble of protection around me. I miss the increase of spirit activity, being in this bubble, but I understand why, too.
Thanks for all of the Hearts, Follows, Subscribing, Purchases, Bookings, and Recommendations. I really do appreciate the support.
Trust in Sunna. Trust in Joy. Follow the Bees…
~ Priestess Foxlyn
I offer psychic readings if interested. I’m a Psychic Medium who can channel Deities, Spirits, and the Dead—human and animal. These entities may use pendulums, cards, runes, automatic writing/typing/drawing, possession, or energies to answer your questions.
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